New York City: Trip in Review
Made it back from New York City. Wow…what a great time! I’ll admit, I never had a strong desire to visit NYC. I’m more of a outdoors, national park kind of person…but I’d go back in a heartbeat!
We flew into LaGuardia. The prices were better for us, but check both JFK and Newark when booking tickets. To get from the airport, we used Super Shuttle.
So trying to find a budget hotel in Manhattan that doesn’t have terribly bad reviews? That is a challenge.
We ended up going with the Days Inn at W. 94th Street & Broadway on the Upper West Side. You can read the Tripadvisor review. It’s certainly not a high-end hotel (what do you expect?), but we wanted an affordable, clean, and safe space–and this fit the bill. Yes, the elevator is slow and the carpets can be a bit worn, but the location is also great: a 3-block walk to Central Park and one block from the subway.
Speaking of subway: we didn’t use taxicabs at all. We got around on foot or by subway!
Because it’s summer, we decided to focus on a lot of outdoor activities. This time, we skipped the museums (though we did try–on free museum night–when everything was packed). We figured we can save the museums for the next trip (maybe when the weather isn’t as nice?).
Itinerary:
- Central Park
- Midtown Manhattan walking tour
- New York Public Library and Grand Central Terminal
- Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and 9/11 Memorial
- Attended a taping of the CBS Late Show with David Letterman
- Skydeck observatories at the Empire State Building and Top of the Rock
- Staten Island Ferry (to see the Statue of Liberty, closed because of Superstorm Sandy)
- Times Square (to get tickets at the TKTS booth to see a Broadway show)
- The High Line
We packed a lot in to our four days in NYC. I’ve posted all of the pics in a Flickr album.
